


The Arctic Desert

by readersanonymous (fanficprince)



Category: Rooster Teeth/Achievement Hunter/Funhaus RPF
Genre: (will add more tags as the story progresses), Apocalypse, Eternal Winter, F/M, Icy Apocalypse, earthquake
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-04-30
Updated: 2016-04-30
Packaged: 2018-06-05 11:47:13
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 3,514
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6703408
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/fanficprince/pseuds/readersanonymous
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Inspired by LadyFogg’s series Lost in the Dark, the world has been covered in snow and ice. You’ve been alone for the longest time until you see a light flash in the distance. Maybe you aren't so alone after all.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

You’ve been traveling for as long as you remember. How all this happened, you don't really know. All you know is most of the Earth’s population is dead or covered in snow like yourself. You clutch your warm bottle of water close to your chest and walk through the icy forest. It’s been awhile since you’ve seen any form of life besides the tall trees that tower over you. The trees made it harder to see the sun, if the sun ever came out of the clouds again. It was difficult to tell time, your watch had died several days ago. 

In the distance, you see something. A structure of some sorts. The cold began to crept into your feet. Your boots needed some patching up because the snow was leaking into them, making it very unpleasant to walk. You tried to walk quickly to what you believed could be a cabin, though you’ve never been so lucky. As it gets bigger and bigger in your sight, you’ll be damned. It's a wood cabin, right in the middle of the forest, shielded by the trees. You pull out your pickaxe and walk towards the front door. You don't hear anyone or see anything inside the fairly big cabin. 

“Fuck,” you say, trying to pick the lock. “This thing is iced shut.” 

You take the warm water bottle out of your coat and sigh, “let's hope this works.”

You pour the hot water onto the doorknob and the side of the door and pick it again, this time, it opens. You wanted to bust down the door, since it would save you trouble, but if you had, you wouldn't have a door to shield from the cold. You turn the lock on the door, clicking it shut and breathe in the relevantly dusty air. It was slightly chillier inside the cabin, but you find some firewood and light the fireplace and stove. The place slowly heats up and you smile.

“Guess I finally got lucky,” you drop your insanely bulky bag down to the floor and go check upstairs, carrying a small knife with you just in case. You have yet to interact with another human being in a long while but you were always prepared for the worst. 

Upstairs, there were four bedrooms, all equipped with sheets and blankets made for the winter and winter clothing. You managed to find a good thermal, a warm plaid shirt and layered sweats and you changed out of your pretty slushed up clothing. You barely ever get the opportunity to change, it comes maybe once every two weeks, once a week if you're lucky. If you stay here, you could change everyday and even do thorough laundry! The possibilities were endless, which made you feel good. You realize that the heater for the entire house is electric run so you couldn't sleep upstairs or you would freeze so you decide to keep your stuff primarily downstairs where the stove and fireplace were. You spend the day making the cabin cozy, something you haven't felt in a very long time. You scavenge for food and find a couple cans, which just add to the load you were carrying in your pack. 

There's a bathtub in the bathroom by the kitchen so you decide to take the time and lug some snow in to melt so you can take a bath. Whoever’s cabin this was had a fondness for great soaps because when you finally have the bath ready, you lather yourself with fresh lemon soap and wash your hair for the first time in a while. 

When you’re all cleaned up, you plop down on the mattress you dragged from upstairs and wrap yourself in the warm blankets, cuddling up by the fire. Adding some more firewood, you watch the fire burn and you drift off to sleep. 

You are woken by a fierce shaking. The ground around you was trembling and you quickly ran to the nearest table, hiding under it. You were thankful the fire went out or else the cabin might have lit up. The earthquake was strong enough to knock a couple portraits off the walls but subsided in due time. You wait for signs of a possible aftershock, which did actually occur and when it seemed like the earthquake was really over, you got up. 

You quickly go to clean up the broken glass from the fallen images when you something catches your attention.

There was a light flickering off in the distance. 

The light flickered and stopped. Flickered and stopped. You walk towards the window and watched it. The light sometimes lingered, sometimes flashed. It was coming from somewhere a long reach, maybe half a day’s walk.

“Three flashes, three lingers, then three flashes again. Repeats every ten seconds.” It's morse code. Someone was sending an SOS into the darkness.


	2. Chapter 2

You go to light a fire real quick and get some food heated up. You don't know why you were even thinking about going to help, let alone actually go. But you realize what if that was you. Plus, you haven't seen another person in ages. You run upstairs to grab your pack and empty it out. 

Opening the door to the children’s room, you search for paper. “Come on, I just need some paper and maybe a good marker. Bingo.”

You pull out paper and several big markers from one of the drawers. You start to scribble some landmarks you remember and you suit up to quickly go outside and write down some more details. Getting back inside, you look back towards the flashes. The sun was rising in that way. You pull out your compass to be sure and indeed, it is east. You attempt to fill out a map best you can. 

Pouring your soup into a bowl, you sit and eat, planning what to bring. You didn't want to bring too much, in case they're hostile. You decide to pack two days worth of food and water, a blanket, some medical supplies and your trusty pickaxe. You test the weight of your pack and it’s nothing too difficult to handle. 

Changing into three layers of sweaters along with a puffer jacket, you look around for some warmer pants and stumble upon some ski pants and leggings. Putting on the leggings under the ski pants, you’re feeling toasty. You slip on two pairs of socks and grab the pair of boots you found in one of the closets. They were just slightly too big for you, but the extra layers helps you walk in them. You make your way back downstairs and let the fire die out before you leave. You throw on a scarf and a hat and you're set to go. 

“Let's hope whoever this is won't kill me,” you say as you open the door and start your trek towards the light.

The light continues to flash, but now only once every few minutes maybe. Trekking through the snow, you really wonder why you decided to go out and do this. You were perfectly happy in your newly found cabin. Why give that up now?

“Because-” you breathe heavily as you make you way over the hill. “Someone need your help and you should help them.” 

You make it over the insanely big hill and can see that the light is getting bigger. You can almost make out a building. You look around and notice the ski lifts. That must be a ski resort and the light was flashing from a downstairs window. 

You start to pick up your pace since it seems like the light has just stopped altogether. How long have they been doing that? Several hours now, what is going on in there? 

When you get to the ski resort, you can see that the windows are broken and that some of the building inside has collapsed. The earthquake must've hit this area harder than where you were. You step over the window frame and into the resort, looking for the side of the building where the light was coming from.

“If you're still here, say something,” you say loudly into the resort’s empty lobby. Your voice echoes through the room, which slightly concerns you.

Your ears catch a faint noise, like a fidget, coming from the pile of collapsed furniture. It looked like all the furniture from one of the suites came crashing down into the lobby. 

“Are you in here?” You say a little louder into the pile. “Make a noise if you can hear me.”

A slightly louder groan comes from the pile and a quick flash of light shines through so you drop your pack and start to move the furniture and collapsed roofing as best you can. 

“Keep flashing your light towards the sound of my voice so I know if I'm getting close.”

The light flashes again, more towards your right this time and you start lifting stuff out of the way in that direction. There was a ton of debris in your way but you manage to get enough out of the way to make out the figure of a human being. 

Pushing some more things aside, you come in contact with a man holding a flashlight. Or well, half of a man. The other half is lodged tightly underneath a fallen bed with an entire chunk of roof on top of it.

“You’ve got some shit luck, my friend,” you say. You want to smack yourself a little. The first time you've seen another person in ages and that's what you say to them? 

“Well-” he tried to push the bed off of him again. “It ain't so bad since you’re here now.”

“That's true,” you climb to the side of the bed and tug the debris off. Once the heavier pieces were off, you are able to lift the bed up enough for the man to drag himself out. 

You run back, grabbing your pack, then come back to the man, “How are your legs?” 

“I lost a good amount of feeling in my thighs but I could still wiggle my toes so I think I’ll be able to walk,” you hand him some water. 

“I'm assuming it was the earthquake?” 

“Yeah,” he pulls himself against the window, leaning his back on it. He clinks his flashlight against the glass, “Surprised this window kept in tact.”

“This is a pretty nice place you got here,” you sit down next to him, putting out your hand. “Y/N but you can call me your savior.”

He laughs and shakes your hand, “icy apocalypse and you’ve still got a sense of humor. I'm Ryan. Thanks for coming for me.”

“How long have you been here?” You take a sip of your water, you were quite parched from your sudden workout. 

“Just got here,” Ryan points to the door hidden behind other chunks of fallen roof and a bathtub. “I moved my stuff into that room and got out to scavenge and well…”

“Now that's real shit luck,” you pull out some canned peaches and hand them to him. “You hungry?”

“Starved,” you pop up the lid and hand Ryan the can and a spoon. He doesn't accept it immediately, “Why are you helping me?”

You pull off your hat and lean your head against the glass behind you, “honestly, I don't know. I saw your distress signal and just came.”

“So you're not here to take advantage of me for my smoking hot body then, huh?” He gestures to the puffy jacket that makes him look much bigger than he actually is.

You laugh, “in your dreams.”

Ryan shrugs, “Fair enough, a man can dream.”

He tries to get up but you catch him just in time before he would've come crashing down. You help him to his feet and when he gets a couple steps back in him, you let him go.

“Are you good?” You ask.

“I think I should be fine,” he walks towards the debris in front of the blocked room. 

“You don't plan on staying here, do you?” Your voice is tinted with worry. You don't really know why though. “This place is in pretty poor shape. It won't last you the upcoming winter.”

“I don't really have much choice,” he sighs. “Winter is coming soon. I was outrunning a storm when I got here.”

You remember the dark clouds in the distance, you remember telling yourself you were crazy for walking towards them instead of away. 

“Can you walk?” You ask.

“Yeah, didn't I just answer that question?” Ryan managed to get through the debris and into the room. 

“If you think you can trek several miles, come stay with me,” you blurt out. Why were you offering a complete stranger your beautiful hideaway? You realized you were craving human interaction, it's been too long. 

“Are you serious Y/N? You barely know me,” Ryan pulls out his pack and tosses it onto the lobby floor. 

“Well then, we’ll get to know each other if that's so important to you. But I'm offering you a place to fend off the winter, take it or leave it.” 

Ryan throws another bag into the lobby and makes his way out of the room, “I'll take it.” 

“Alright then, we should get to scavenging this place then leaving. Hopefully there's extra supplies here,” you pull on your pack and head towards the other side of the resort, Ryan following. 

“The kitchen’s this way,” you start to follow him and he opens the door to a huge dining hall and then to the kitchen. 

You and Ryan look through the cabinets and round up a good supply of cans goods. When he isn't looking, you stuff a bottle of whiskey into your pack.

“Ready to head out?” You say as you stand at the door. Ryan gives you a thumbs up and you walk outside. The sun wasn't very high in the sky anymore so you try to keep a quick enough pace so you make it back before the sun sets.

“Tell me if you need to rest,” your voice travels back to Ryan, who is slightly trailing behind.

“I'm good, just carrying a lot of stuff,” he lifts his duffel bag, which looked like it weighed a ton.

“You want to put some stuff in my pack?” 

“I got it,” he says, picking up the pace. “I can catch up, don't worry about me.”

You can see the cabin in the distance and feel relieved that you made it back before sunset. 

When you're at the front door, you open the door easily since you left it unlocked. You should find a key but it didn't really matter so you don't prioritize it. Ryan lugs himself and his bag inside and plops down on the couch, heaving.

You hand him some water and close the door, “you should go take a bath. I’ll heat some water for you and grab you a change of clothes.”

“You have a bath here? Holy shit,” he gets down in front of you and bows, “you truly are my savior.” 

“More like I can't have you sleeping with all that filth, it's not healthy and you need to rest,” you go to melt some pots of snow for the bath. “In the meantime, go upstairs and grab a mattress and plop it by the fireplace. There's some clothes up there too, see if any of those things fit you.”

“Yes ma’am,” he gives you a salute and you wait until he's upstairs to let out a short giggle. 

It felt so strange having company again. You had been alone for so long that you thought you had forgotten how to interact with people. Hell, you were lucky you talked to yourself, you might have lost the ability to speak altogether. You filled with bath with water and you can hear Ryan’s footsteps and a loud thud. You run out of the bathroom to see that he threw a mattress down by the fireplace and several blankets. 

“The bath is done so I’ll unpack all our findings and make dinner,” you walk back and sit down by your pack.

“Sounds good, if you don't mind, can you unpack my duffel and pack too? Just put the contents wherever seems fit,” he says then closes the door. 

You pull out all your findings for today and carry them to the kitchen, putting them in the cabinets. You go around the cabin, grabbing all the cans you hid and pack them into the cabinet. Walking back, you finally get to see what is in the heavy duffel bag. Moment of truth. 

You unzip the duffel and look inside, “holy shit.”

“Do you like what you see?” Ryan hovers over you, now incredibly cleaned up. You do a double take because he cleaned up his beard and his hair and looks pretty decent in a thermal and sweats. 

You turn back to the bag, “it's insane.”

“So can I take that as a good thing?”


	3. Chapter 3

You glance into the duffel bag, which was filled with cans of food. There were also a couple guns, an axe and medical supplies. Ryan literally had enough to survive until the spring. 

“I was pretty set to live up in that resort, but I really like it here,” he run a towel through his wet hair. “That bath was phenomenal.”

“Damn, that is a lot of stuff,” you try to carry it by yourself but Ryan comes in and gives you a hand. “Put it on the kitchen counter.”

He throws it onto the kitchen counter and you both start unpacking it. 

“All the cans will go in the bottom cabinets, medical supplies on the top and the weapons we’ll hide around the cabin.”

He nods and you both quickly organize everything. Pouring the contents of two cans into a pot, you heat it up. Ryan grabs two bowls and sets them out on the counter.

“This doesn't really feel like an apocalypse, does it?” He laughs. “Just feels like a night in.”

You smile, “I suppose so. Two complete strangers sharing a relaxing meal, awaiting their impending doom.”

“Yeah,” you pour the soup into the bowls and Ryan takes them and sets them down on the dining table. He sits down and waits for you to start eating, “I haven't gotten to sit down and eat in ages.”

“It feels like I've been walking forever, trying to just find a place to stay,” you eat a spoon of your soup, which is a very nice temperature. 

“How do you think this all happened?” 

You shrug, “from what I heard, it was a military project gone wrong.”

“Weather warfare? I didn't even know that was a thing,” Ryan pulls out a journal from his pack and scribbles something in it with the pencil attached. 

“They wanted to send parts of the world into eternal winters. But instead, it sent the whole world into an eternal winter,” you finish your soup and take Ryan’s bowl as well. He is still scribbling away in his journal so you leave him be. After you melt enough snow to do the dishes, you clean up and head to lighting the fire. You situate the mattresses so that you and Ryan are side by side and facing towards the fire. You curl yourself up by the fire and wrap a blanket around yourself, watching the wood crack. 

“We need to get more firewood, we’ll run out soon,” you say slightly too loud because you don't notice that Ryan was right behind you.

“I can do a run tomorrow morning, the storm shouldn't hit for another maybe three days,” Ryan lays down on his mattress and faces the ceiling. “Do you think we’re the only ones left?”

You turn to him, “you mean like people?”

“Yeah,” Ryan lays on his side facing you. “What if we’re it?”

“Then I'm sorry to say the human race is doomed,” you lay down too. “Besides, we can't be the only ones. We might just be the only sane ones left though.”

“What do you mean by that?” 

“Long story, long day,” you shut your eyes. “I'll tell you in the morning, Ryan. Good night.”

“Good night, Y/N.”

When you woke up, Ryan was gone. The sun was high in the sky, trying its hardest to peak through the clouds. You see a note left for you on the dining table.

_ Left for firewood, should be back after noon. - Ryan _

Firewood would be difficult to find so it's understandable that he wasn't back yet. You begun to get concerned when sunset was rolling in and he wasn't back yet.

You are about to put on all your gear to go look for him when you hear a loud thud outside your door. You grab your pickaxe and walk towards the door slowly.

Looking through the peephole, you see Ryan laying face down with wood strapped on his back. 

“Ryan!” You come running out.

**Author's Note:**

> This work is currently in progress so any suggestions/requests plot-wise are welcome!


End file.
